The Tears That We Cried
by tractor
Summary: After Boone dies Shannon becomes depressed and shuns Sayid. Sayid tells Shannon about Nadia. Claire and Charlie get together. Takes place in the first season
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer**: I do not own lost

**A/N:** Originally based on a 100 word drabble this story follows the relationship of Shannon and Sayid. Takes place after Boone dies in the first season.

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Working on her tan Shannon idly flipped on to her stomach and tried to relax. How much longer until they get off this shitty island? It had taken Boone, what else did it want? Angrily she tried to bury her head between her arms, hiding her tears. She should probably try to help or do something productive. Maybe she could let Sayid know that she's okay, that she still cares about him. Shannon sighed. No, she wasn't going to get up, not now, not ever. She was just going to lay there like a piece of bacon, and burn to a crisp.

Sayid stole a glance at Shannon, he slowly started making his way over to where she was tanning, he wanted to tell her that he will always be there for her, that he will always be there to listen. He looks up at her again and realizes that she is crying, that Boone might have been more than a brother; then again, maybe they really were close. For a moment, he falters, but just for a moment.

" Shannon," he says tentatively. She turns her head the other way so Sayid won't see her tears. He kneels down to her level, "Shannon, I know what it's like to loose somebody close to you, but you have to talk to me! You can't keep it all bottle up, it's not healthy!"

Shannon sniffled and a though crossed through her mind… how does he know? Did he love someone, if so who? Is she a replacement this woman in the picture he carries around?

"Know? Know?" Shannon sat up, tears running down her face, voice raising with each word, "You think you know what I'm going through?"

Her voice was at full force now, "Who have you lost Sayid? Who was so special to you? Is it the girl in the picture? Oh, let me guess, she's just your sister! I've seen the way you look at that picture when you think no one is looking, you think you know! Well guess what Sayid, I DON'T CARE!" She doesn't care whose looking and whose not. She stood up, wiped her eyes with the back of her hand and stomped into the jungle.

"Shannon, wait!" Sayid yelled after her, he starts to get up, but then thought better of and sat back down. He thinks that she needs to sort it out on her own, but he's wrong. Sayid pulls out the picture of Nadia. Out of the corner of his eye he sees Claire get up and slip into the jungle, following Shannon.

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	2. Chapter 2

I am so out of it. This chapter is more from Claire's mind if anything. I'm thinking of doing the next one from Chariles POV. Not sure. How about you review and tell what you want me to do.. **waggles eyebrows** eh? Eh?

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Claire glanced over at Shannon, she knew how hard it would be to get off those baby pounds she gained with Aaron… she paused a moment, Aaron, it seems, the bringer of bad luck. It was his fault she broke up with Thomas, and if it wasn't for him she wouldn't be on this godforsaken island… but if she wasn't on this 'godforsaken' island then she would have never met Charlie. Claire sighed, Charlie, so cute, yet she shouldn't get involved, not again, not so soon, not on a island in the middle of nowhere.

Claire glanced up, speaking of the boys where are they? She saw Sayid talking to Shannon, or more like Sayid talking to a brick wall. Claire scoffed inwardly, good luck Sayid. She scanned the beach, her gaze falling upon Charlie and Aaron, with Sawyer. Good to know, even though she still doesn't get it… Sawyer… soothing… babies... as if. Claire's thoughts were interrupted by Shannon's yelling.

"…you think you know! Well guess what Sayid, I DON'T CARE!"

Then Shannon ran off into the jungle. Ouch. Claire glanced over at Sayid, the look on his face was to break even Sawyer's non-existant heart. He started to get up, as if to go after her, but then sat back down, as if he decided not to go. Claire, peered into the jungle.. and with nothing better to do, stood up, dusted of her skirt and started after Shannon.

The minute Claire stepped into the dark jungle she regretted it. See, even during the day the path to the caves in dark, and Claire never really like the dark much. Too spontaneous. Things could jump out and trip you at any moment, plus it is very easy to get lost in the dark… not fun. Not her kind of thing either, Claire didn't like spontaneous, she liked good old predictable planned fun.

"Oomp!"

Was that Shannon?

"Godammit! Stupid root! Die! Die! I said DIE YOU DI-"

Yup, that was definitely Shannon.

"Shannon, are you okay?" Claire said peering around a tree to see one helluva sight. Shannon mush have tripped over a tree root and then got quite mad at it. Because now she was proceeding to beat with a branch…

"Shannon be careful, you don't want to tr-" And Shannon had fell again, she sat up, put her face in her hand and started crying. This is exactly why Claire didn't like the dark. Trees jump out and attack you. Mean girls cry. The dark was way too unpredictable. Claire would stick to the sunlight from now on.

"Oh Claire, I don't get it. How come every time something starts to go right it has to become so wrong?" Shannon asked tearily.

Claire kneeled and helped Shannon up, "Lets go get you some water," Claire said, "and on the way there you can tell me what happened." Shannon sniffled and nodded, 'this might be a while' she thought.

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Review!


	3. Chapter 3

Here is the next chapter. Review and enjoy.

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Charlie nervously looked around the beach, where did Claire go? Claire was beautiful, smart, sweet, intelligent, and fun to be around. He really did like her and Aaron, well, Aaron isn't half bad either. If something happened to Claire (again) he would-

Sawyer interrupted Charlie from his thoughts, "Hey there sport, the kid is asleep."

"Oh, uh, yeah, thanks Sawyer," Charlie muttered, handing Sawyer a wrinkled up magazine.

"My pleasure, nice doin' business with ya," Sawyer replied, flipping the magazine over and looking at the cover and smirking, "I never took ya for a Vouge kinda guy…"

"Yeah, well, I uh, its not mine…" Charlie stuttered though his words.

"Sure it ain't amigo," Sawyer chuckled.

Charlie put Aaron in the bjorn, looked around the beach one last time for Claire, and headed towards the caves.

On his way to the caves Charlie got lost in his thoughts, thoughts about DriveShaft, thoughts about the future and the island, and some thoughts about Claire; well, especially about Claire. He wishes that he knew how she felt about him…

Out of nowhere Charlie stumbled over something.. it looked like a root, but he wasn't quite sure. He kneeled down closer, yup it was a root, but it looked like someone took a hacksaw to it. Aaron started to fuss and Charlie tried to get him to calm down.

"Shh, shh, its okay little turniphead, lets go get you to your mommy."

With that Charlie stood up and with a final glance at the deformed root and continued towards the caves, and little did he know that when he got there he would be in for quite a sight.

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And for those who didn't know---

Bjorn - it's Dutch for baby carrier.

Next Chapter is going to be Sayid-ish.. yes, that sounds right…


	4. Chapter 4

I don't know much about Sayid. I missed a couple episodes here and there and I guess they were about him, cause the only thing I really know about him is from the transcript I read to catch up on the episode I missed. I know, what a loser.

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Ever since he and Shannon had started, well, having a relationship, the nagging thought of Nadia had always been in the back of his mind. He had planned on telling Shannon one day; just not this soon. He would have never thought that Nadia could cause such a rift between him and anybody, especially Shannon. Nadia, always causing trouble. He paused at that thought and silently chuckled.

Sayid drew circles in the sand with his finger. He wasn't used to this, doing nothing, having time to think. It was short lived. A shadow fell over him and he looked up.

"Sayid, I'm going to the caves, do you want to go with me?" Kate asked. Sayid had been sitting here for the past half-hour, just staring at the sand. Kate was starting to get worried, she saw Shannon yelling, maybe if Kate talked to Sayid. Get him off the beach before he runs into Shannon.

"Yes, yes, I think I would like that." Sayid said, dusting off his pants and standing up. Maybe he would run into Shannon at the caves and he could talk to her.

"Good, ready?" Kate replied. She was glad he was going with her. She liked the company.

"Let me get my water bottles, I'll be right over." Kate nodded and stood under a tree at the edge of the path to the caves and surveyed the beach. Sawyer was reading a magazine that looked like, could it be, Vouge? She had to take advantage of this opportunity. She walked over to his tent and stopped at the entrance.

Sawyer looked up, "Can I help you there Freckles?"

"Vouge?"

"What can I say? I'm a fashionable guy. Coulda been a model." Sawyer smirked. Kate rolled her eyes.

Sayid appeared behind Kate, "Ready?"

"Sure," Kate said stealing a look at Sawyer.

They started their journey into the jungle in relative silence. Kate couldn't stand it any longer, "So, what happened between you and Shannon?" Kate hoped that she was discreet about wanting to know, she never was one for gossiping.

Sayid sighed and ran a hand through his hair, "My past happened, Boone happened, we crashed on a deserted island, that's what happened."

Kate smiled and nodded, "Makes sense."

They walked along is silence for a couple of minutes when Kate stumbled over a root. Sayid caught her, "Are you okay?" He asked.

"Yeah I'm fine" she said, looking back at the culprit.

"It looks as if it is not it's first offence," Sayid pointed out, looking at the scrape marks.

Kate laughed, "Someone must of got pretty mad,"

Sayid looked at the root, he had a good guess of who had done that damage, Shannon. She was probably pretending it was his face, and he hoped he was wrong.

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Okay next chapter is a Shannon Claire I'll make it super long and also throw in some Charlie, maybe even some CC action. Oh Oh, take that.3


	5. Chapter 5

Yiptee frikin' day! Another chappy!

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After Shannon's little breakdown in the forest she and Claire got to talking. They didn't have much in common but Shannon thought it was nice that someone was actually talking to her, looking her in the eye, no one had really done that since Boone's death. They had tried, but she had pushed them away.

They had been talking for quite a while when they finally reached the caves. They stood for a second, looked around and chose a place to sit.

Leaning her back against a tree Claire asked, "So, what did happen to you and Sayid?"

Shannon stiffened. Why would Claire ask that? She had no place. "Well, he kept on pushing me to talk about Boone's death, and he acted like everything was fine, and it wasn't! Then, I find out I'm just second best. Second best to a woman in a picture!"

Claire noticed that Shannon's breathing was getting labored and scooted over to her and put her arm around Shannon.

"It's okay," Claire said, rubbing circles on her back, "hey, hey, Shan, listen to me."

"Shannooonn," Claire repeated, shoving her slightly.

Shannon looked up, eyes narrowed, "Did you just push me?"

Claire looked around, alerted, "Push, noo, that was more like a nudge."

Shannon's face relaxed into a smile, "Nope, pretty sure that was a push," Shannon said. Then she did something unexpected. She pushed Claire back. Grinning like a cheshire cat she stuck her tongue out at Claire, " Now we're even."

Claire smiled back at her, "I don't think so, you pushed me harder than I pushed you so… SHOVE!"

"SHOVE," people started looking at what all the commotion was about.

"SHOVE," that one rolled Shannon on to her back, but got right back up, not to be defeated.

"SHOVE," Claire would not be outdone!

"SHOVE," now they were _both _rolling on the floor

"SHO-" Shannon was halfway through a shove when Jack interrupted.

"Could you please just be quiet! I'm trying to get some work done!" Always the stickler.

The crowd looked at each other, then at Claire and Shannon who lay on the ground, suppressing giggles, and went back to their respective duties. All except one.

"Claire?" It was Charlie. The look on Claire's face was priceless, like she got caught with her hand in the cookie jar. Shannon burst out laughing.

"Just… go," Shannon said in between laughs.

Claire got up and sent a withering glare at Shannon, and walked over to Charlie. By now Charlie was very confused. In his point of view Shannon was an insufferable female git. And seeing the beautiful, fragile, Claire with that insufferable female git made him jealous. He wasn't a git, well, at least he didn't think so. Therefore, Claire should be with him instead of Shannon. It was all in the logic.

As Claire made her way over to Charlie baby Aaron started to wake up. Charlie tickled Aaron's little belly with his finger and handed him over to Claire. She smiled.

"Awww, who's a good little boy? You are!" Claire cooed to Aaron, lifting him in the air, "and it's this little good boy's bed time, yes it is!" And with that Claire started to walk away.

Charlie just stood there... No 'Oh thank you Charlie!' or 'I love your band Charlie' not even a 'I'm a lesbian Charlie'. Well isn't that just peachy.

As Claire tucked baby Aaron in she thought of how to thank Charlie. She didn't have anything to give him and he had been watching Aaron so much lately, and he seemed a bit tiffed that she didn't even noticed him… well didn't _seem _to notice him. She sighed as she made her way back to were his disgruntled figure stood.

"I, uh, thanks Charlie." She said, and with that she stood on her toes and kissed him on the cheek.

He turned red, "Anytime Claire, anytime." They looked each other in the eyes, started leaning in—when they heard Shannon, whistling and stomping her feet.

"Whooo! Go for it Charlie! C'mon Claire! Yeah!"

"Oh shut up you insufferable female git," Charlie replied.. Claire was secretly grateful for Shannon. She thought that she might be making a good friend. She didn't think she could quite handle anything else, she had Aaron to look after, and she had to watch her back, she didn't want to be kidnapped again. And Shannon kind of made Claire forget about everything bad that was happening.

Shannon stopped her yelling and looked at Claire, and Claire gave Charlie a shove.

"You aren't supposed to say things like that out loud!" she scolded.

With that Claire gave Charlie one last glance and walked over to Shannon who promptly started teasing her. That's when Claire shoved Shannon with an impromptu exclamation of,

"SHOVE!"

Charlie sighed and shook his head, so close.

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Not as much CC as I would have liked but its been so hectic. As soon as your like 'ahhh a peacful week off' everything goes and decides to break.

Arg. Next chapter up by Sunday, new hp book out on sat. saw a screening of zorro 2 ('bout the only good thing that happened) it was cute. Have a nice week.


	6. Chapter 6

Yipee!

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Shannon looked over at Charlie, she swear she heard him sigh, like a big little girl. Trying to take her friend away.

"SHOVE!" Oh, Claire was going to get it.

"SHOV-" Interrupted, again.

It was Hurley, "Dudes, bad idea, Jack is going to blow a gasket. He's all stressed out cause he thinks Kate is 'avoiding' him." An eye roll, "I'd avoid him too if he was always this moody." With that, Hurley turned and went back to whatever he was doing, Shannon suspects that he spend the majority of his time hunting down Twinkies in the wilderness… or not. She didn't much care.

Shannon noticed that Claire was off in her own world. Probably thinking of that VH1 has-been. Oh god, she was sounding like Sawyer. Crap, crap, crap! She didn't want to sound like a hick! She looked back at Claire, who was near drooling, and sighed. Why had she yelled at Sayid? He just asked a simple question... but she was so tired of his questions. He treated her like some fragile little girl. She wasn't going to break if he treated her like a real person.

Claire heard someone sigh and looked up, it was Shannon. As her eyes scanned the cave she caught sight of Charlie, who was talking to Hurley. He was probably trying to convince Charlie to go Twinkie hunting or something… she shook her head. She needed to talk to Charlie.

Charlie looked up at Claire and in a moment of dark spontaneity, she motioned for him to come over. He raised his eyebrows, looked around, and mouthed the word 'Me?'. Claire laughed and nodded, 'you' she mouths, pointing at him. He smiles. As he walks over, Claire remembered why she didn't like the spontaneous darkness, it was, for lack of a better word, spontaneous.

"You called madam," Charlie said.

Claire looked up, "Sit."

"Be all bossy then," Charlie laughed as he sat down on the ground.

"Ummm, well, Charlie.," she said, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath, "Ijustwanttoknowwhatishappeningbetweenusandwhathappenedbacktherewiththekisswhatdoyouthink?" Claire opened her eyes to a very confused Charlie.

"What?"

"Well, um, Charlie, how you've been?" She responded, embarrassed, how else was she supposed to say it? The characters in movies always understood when the other people talked in long sentences.

"Good, Claire if this is about earlier-"

"Charlie, I know I may sound like an idiot, but where are we going? I mean, I have Aaron, and Thomas left me, maybe I don't want to go anywhere," Claire looked up, biting her lip, "maybe I don't want to go anywhere."

Charlie looked up, how could she say something like that? "What, but Claire, we can go slow its just-"

"I don't know what I want Charlie. Maybe this isn't the best idea right now."

"Please Claire, lets try… you've talked yourself into a corner, c'mon Claire.." Charlie pleaded.

Claire looked at him, got up, and walked away. Charlie looked down at his hands, Claire gone. He had nothing, not even a fix, he needed something, anything at a time like this. He leaned back against a tree, closed his eyes and sighed, biting his fingernails his thoughts drifted off to a blond haired blue eyed lady's smile, and her laugh…

Shannon's eyes followed Claire as she walked away from Charlie. She had heard the whole conversation, and felt a little bit sorry for Charlie, just a little bit. A movement out of the corner of her eye caught her attention. She looked up, it was Sayid, with Kate. As they emerged out of the jungle Shannon felt a wave of jealousy, more like an ocean of jealousy, wash over her. How could Sayid be with Kate, has he replaced her that fast? She scoffed, Kate, how could he do that to her, give her up for a girl who doesn't event know the meaning of a brush.

Shannon got up and sat by Charlie, she noticed Sayid's confused look and she smiled to herself.

"What d'you want? You cynical litt-"

"Nothing you idiot," she snapped, "just go back to moping or something."

Charlie looked at her and decided to ignore her. Shannon hoped Sayid was jealous, then maybe he would come over here and beat Charlie up. She smiled, now that would be a win-win situation. Then she would know that Sayid thinks Kate is just another ugly troll and the VH1 has-been might stop annoying people with his whole 'I'm in a band, yadda yadda.'

"You're sorta scaring me.." Charlie interrupted her from her thoughts, "with that whole, 'I'm a creepy vampire who will suck your blood look…"

"Oh shut-up you VH1 has been."

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hardy hardy har.

Next chappy up by Thursday. Yipee!


	7. Chapter 7

I know hurley is a bit.. stereotypical, its just I really like the word dude!

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Sayid looked over at the sound of Shannon and Charlie arguing. Then watched as Charlie threw his hands in the air, rolled his eyes and walked off. Shannon glared at Charlie through narrowed eyes and crossed her arms over her chest. Sayid shook his head, such a free spirit, trying to control a woman like that was like trying to control a bull. It was impossible.

Kate saw Sayid staring at Shannon, she had tried to convince him to go and talk to Shannon, he protested, saying that there was simply nothing to talk about.

Sayid swallowed his pride then made his way over to Shannon, thinking that maybe Kate was right, that maybe they should talk. With every step he took, the more he wanted to turn back. It reminded him of his times in the National Guard with Nadia. But instead of torturing, he was the one being tortured. When Shannon snubbed him on the beach he wanted nothing more than to have been invisible, nonexistent.

Shannon looked up when she heard footsteps; it was Sayid looking as if he had been punched. She couldn't help but feel a pang of pity, then a flash of anger, "Can I help you?"

Sayid was startled by Shannon's sharp tone. "We need to talk." Shannon just gave him a blank look. He sighed and sat on the ground next to her. "Shannon, we need to talk, you cannot put this off any longer."

Shannon look Sayid in the eye, "Fine, lets 'talk'."

"Good, I'd hoped you say that, Shannon, it was no excuse for me to hide that picture of Nadia fro-"

"Nadia?"

"Yes, see we-"

"Burn it."

"What? No, Shannon see-"

"Burn it and I'll tell you about Boone."

"No Shannon, I cannot do that. I want you to understand."

"Go." It tore Shannon up inside to say this, but she gave up, she was tired of being lied to, being used, whether it was in the past or the present, she was tired, "Go Sayid. Please, just go."

"But, I-" For a moment he thought of actually doing it, burning the picture. But he couldn't bring himself to do. If Shannon couldn't accept his past, if she couldn't even listen to him explain... it made him deeply upset, but maybe this messed up 'relationship' wouldn't work out. It was harsh, but it was true. He got up, and before he walked away he turned around, "Okay. If that is what you want."

Shannon's mouth fell open. Just like that he was gone. She hadn't meant what she said, or had she? Now she knew how Claire felt. Torn.

Hurley, who had been watching the scene unfold in front of him had walked out of the dense undergrowth of the jungle and stood in front of Shannon.

"Dude,"

Shannon jumped, "Where did you come from? Hunting Twinkies in the great jungle?"

Hurley looked hurt, "Dude, I was just going to build new golf course holes and wondered if you wanted to talk about it."

"Oh," Shannon was embarrassed, Hurley must have heard all of her and Sayid's argument, "no Hurley, I'm good, but thanks for the offer."

"Suit yourself dude."

In the next few days the inhabitants of the island seemed to have a black cloud hanging over their heads. Sayid would disappear, days at a time. There was a shortage of boar. Hurley's golf course got put on the backburner when Hurley hit himself with a golf club when he was practicing his back swing.

Claire had moved down to the beaches with Aaron and was only seen going in and out of her tent with Aaron to see Sawyer or to go get water from the caves. Shannon shared water duty with Claire, alternating days with her. But no matter what day it was she barely ever talked, except to Claire.

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	8. Chapter 8

Meh.

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'_I am slowly going crazy...1-2-3-4-5-6-switch.'_

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'Crazy going slowly am I...6-5-4-3-2-1-switch.'_

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'I am slowly going crazy...1-2-3-4-5-6-switch.'_

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'Crazy going am I-'_

Claire was laying on the ground inside her shelter on the beach, staring at the ceiling. The tarp shifted outside, she hoped it wasn't Sawyer with Aaron, she needed time to think.

"Claire, I brought you some water.. oh, sorry, did I wake you up?"

It was Shannon, almost as bad Aaron, but at least she'll go away if you start talking about Sayid. "Nope, just thinking."

"Oh, is about that song again?"

Claire had to chuckle a bit, ever since Shannon had taught her the 'So Not Going Crazy' song, as she dubbed it, Claire couldn't get it out of her head."Yes, it is sooo annoying. It won't go away, no matter what!"

Shannon laughed, "It'll go away eventually, maybe you should teach Sawyer it, get it stuck in his head." Shannon looked around, "Where's Aaron?"

"With Sawyer." Lately it seemed as if he didn't mind taking care Aaron, he even stopped charging. Claire paused, "Hey, uh, Shannon, do you miss Sayid?"

Shannon looked at the ground, her eyes following imaginary swirls and patterns, "No, not really." And it was hard to say… but true. "Really it took a while, but I learned that life goes on," she repeated quietly, "life goes on." Shannon looked up, "Why?"

Claire averted her eyes from Shannon, "No reason really."

"You miss him, I know, we all know, you haven't been out of your tent except to dump Aaron off on Sawyer for days. I have taken over getting the water for you." Shannon paused, giving her a stern look, "Why? You two weren't really an item.. or were you?"

Claire smiled a half-smile, "No, never really. I just miss him. I miss his jokes- his sense of humor, his smile, his laugh, his never-ending guitar playing, that annoying puppy-quality that just makes you want to hit him, yet give him a big hug at the same time.." (Shannon mumbled something about bashing him over the head with a stick rather than giving him a hug).. "I think I do miss him. I do."

Shannon looked at Claire. How could she miss someone like Charlie? His annoying little laugh, and that smirk, and that whole puppy quality- more like evil little minion quality. Claire was obviously crazy, but crazy is as crazy does. Shannon smiled, "Hey, Claire, how about you go and get the waters the next couple of days…" Claire gave her a blank look; Shannon continued, "where Charlie is…" recognition came over Claire's face, "and I'll watch the old diape- I mean Aaron for you."

Claire eyed Shannon, it wasn't like her to offer something without getting anything in return, in fact, Claire would be surprised if Shannon and Sawyer were related. "And… what else?"

Shannon laughed, no water duty, no awkward looks, yes! "Nothing, just go get your man!"

"Fine… but he's not my man, he's my friend… I miss him, but in a totally platonic way."

Shannon rolled her eyes, "Suurrrre.."

------skip a day ahead… to the next water trip------

"Here you go Shannon, be sure to lay him down for his nap-"

"I know, I know, just go. I'm getting thirsty." Shannon laughed at Claire, she was so cautious with Aaron, yet sometimes it seems as if she took total disdain in him.

"Ha, go get it yourself," Shannon gave Claire a stern look, "fine, I'll get it myself."

"That's what I thought," Shannon yelled as Claire's retreating figure slowly made her way into the dark spontaneous jungle. Shannon sighed and looked at the baby, "Well diaper bag, lets take you to Sawyer."

Shannon stood up with Aaron on her hip, and made what seemed like on of the longest walks of her life. A southern drawl shook her out of her revere, "Can I help you Sticks?"

"I was wondering if you could watch the tot for me?"

Sawyer looked around the beach, "Where did the Mamacita go?"

"She's off on business, now will you watch him or not?"

Sawyer laughed, "What are ya gonna give me?"

Shit! Shannon looked around, she had totally forgot to bring something. "Well, you could keep him for as long as you want.." Sawyer raised an eyebrow.. that's when a brilliant idea struck Shannon, "I could teach you the song!"

"What song you talkin' about Sweetcheeks?"

Shannon scoffed, "Take him," she shoved Aaron into his arms and took a seat in the sand, "see it goes, 'I am slowy going-'…"

Later, Sawyer would regret ever asking Shannon for anything.

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Oddly satisfied with this chapter… a little bit. Have fun on your tirp **lostlorenzo**…

Anywhoo next chappy is claire/charlie. And sorry lorry-enzo, but the next update will be on Wednesday, hopfully you'll catch it sometime… thanks so much for the reviews and have fun!


	9. Chapter 9

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As Claire made her way into the dark spontaneous jungle she thought more and more about what a good idea it would be to turn back. She stumbled over something, and looked back. It was Shannon's mutilated root. She smiled, if she did go back Shannon might beat her with a stick… better keep going.

Claire sighed, and a voice out of the jungle made her nearly pee her pants, "Need an escort little lady?"

Claire's hand flew to her chest as she tried to catch her breath, she knew that voice. As she surveyed the dense undergrowth to see where the voice came from and a figure stepped out behind her. And she found herself looking into the eyes of John Locke, "Oh good, it's you, I hoped- well, yes, I wouldn't mind having an escort, you're going to the caves right?"

John nodded. Claire hoped he wouldn't, he still creeped her out. Oh well, at least they would be getting to the caves soon.

"So, uh, catch any boar lately?" Claire asked, trying to fill the silence.

Locke laughed, "Claire, you don't have to make small talk with me, but yes, I'm going to skin it after I talk to Jack."

Claire made a little noise that sounded something like an 'oh'. She looked up at Locke, "Do you like to hunt?"

Locke looked at Claire, she looked like a little girl, really she was, "I guess I do. It gives me something to do on this island, and I contribute. So yes, I do."

Claire averted her eyes to a path and the silence came back, then she asked him a question, spontaneously, "Do you like the dark?" he gave her a weird look, "Well, I mean, it's dark in the jungle most of the time, and that's where you spend your day… so, do you like the dark?"

"I don't necessarily like it, but I don't mind it." He smiled, "Why do you?"

Claire shook her head, "No! It's so dark, and it's spontaneous, I mean you could get seriously hurt in the dark, and.. well, it's spontaneous."

He laughed, "Don't like spontaneity?"

She shook her head again, "Nope, I like consistency."

"Crashing on an island must of really been a shock."

"Yeah, try being pregnant while your at it," she stifled a giggle with her mouth, "I mean, pregnancy isn't the most consistent thing either, neither is being thrown out by your mom, or dumped by your boyfriend, who by the way, is a very crappy artist!"

Locke just laughed, as they reached the caves "Good to know, well, I'm going to let you go here, and I'll see you around."

Claire nodded, "Thanks for walking with me, and thanks for.. listening"

As Claire headed over to the waterfall she knew everyone was looking at her, she hadn't been here in forever, just for this awkward reason. Shannon could handle it, she would probably tell the people something very disrespectful and cause a scene. She looked down at the ground, avoiding everyone's stares. Then there was a rustling in the bushes, Claire looked over, it was Hurley, "Hey dudes- Claire! What's up? Waddya say to a round of golf?"

Claire shook her head, "No thanks Hurley, I'm just getting water.."

"Oh, well you know where to find me. Anyone else want to golf some?" Hurley winked at her. Claire smiled, she was thankful, the attention was officially off her, they had stop staring, well all except one. And she felt his eyes boring a hole into the back of her head.

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	10. Chapter 10

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The eyes never stopped boring the hole in the back of her neck. They were always there, as she filled up all the water bottles, as she waved good bye to Locke as he went off into the jungle the eyes were on her. She felt them looking at her.

As she screwed the cap on the last water bottle and put it in her pack, she sighed, now was the time. She had to confront him or else Shannon… oh, she had to stop using Shannon as an excuse. She did want to talk to him, she did want things to be better. She just wanted it to be easy.

She turned around and there he was, he was leaning against a tree, glaring at her. Why was he glaring? She had come to make things better! She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, she could do this. He didn't say a thing when she stopped in front of him. Claire tried to make eye contact, "Charlie, Charlie!"

He looked up, Claire let out a little breath of relief, until she looked him in the eye. She could see all his emotions, and felt horrible. She didn't think that this would ever happen, that someone would fall for her, and she didn't think she was ready either. "Charlie, can we talk?"

He just kept looking at her, now she wished he would just look away. She felt so bad, "Charlie. I miss you, Aaron misses you, it's not the same without you."

Charile's gaze softened, he had no idea that Claire felt that way, last he had heard from her was that she might not want their 'relationship' to go 'anywhere'. As much as he wanted to just throw caution to the wind and kiss her, he tried to tell himself not to read too much into what she said. He had once and he had been hurt.

"Claire," he sighed, "you hurt me, I mean, you couldn't even let me down easily. You didn't even have the heart to give the standard 'I think we should just be friends' line, you just… gave me an excuse, a sad excuse, and I want to know now, where do you want this to go? Where do you want this," he made a motion between the two of them, "to go? 'Friendship' or maybe, 'something else'? Hmm? Let me know now Claire. Because I don't want to be hurt again."

Wow. That sounded a bit harsher than he intended, and she looked like she was about to cry. Oh no, oh no, oh no. He didn't mean to make her cry. He wanted to gather he up in her arms and tell her he didn't care, but he did care.

When he first said it, she was shocked, 'You gave me an excuse, a sad excuse..' Then she realized he was right. He was one hundred percent right with everything he said. And truth was that she didn't know where she wanted it to go. She wanted to be friends again. But then again he is a man and she is a woman, and if she slips up and kisses him again, or starts something else, then they get in another argument she couldn't handle it.

She wanted to run, run into the jungle and be eaten by the monster. Taken by Ethan and never returned. Anywhere but here. Claire felt something wet sliding down her cheek and wiped it away with the back of her hand. She realized she was crying.

She had to tell him the truth. "Charlie, I don't know where I want this to go," he gave her a steely gaze and started to walk away, she grabbed him by the arm, "I don't- lets start off as friends, and, and, take it from there. Be true to our emotions."

Charlie looked at her, really looked at her. Past the fair skinned, blond haired exterior and realized that she was telling the truth. She didn't know. She had been hurt in the past, much like she had hurt him, and then he understood. He rubbed the back of his neck out of nervous habit, "Okay, but Claire, I- I just want you to know that I do really like you… so when you want to move it to the next level, I'll be okay with it. But now, now, it will be good to be friends again."

Claire couldn't believe her ears, she had her Charlie back! She let out a little scream and jumped into his arms, giving him a huge hug.

That was when he asked if she was going to move back to the caves. And she froze.

"I dunno Charlie," she said, looking at the ground, "I mean, Sawyer is at the beach," with this Charlie's eyes got a little bulgy, "and so is Shannon," Charlies looked like his eyes were going to pop out of his head, "and it's sorta nice to be back at the beach. Ya know, being there when somebody comes."

Charlie took a deep breath, "Sawyer? Shannon? Rescue? Claire we've been on this island for bloody forever and you think someone is going to come and save us?"

"Well Charlie, yes, its always nice to have hope, escpecially when that's all you have on a 'bloody' island! And Sawyer, Sawyer watches Aaron, and lets me be when I didn't want to talk. And on the same token Shannon was always there when I did want to talk, and even when I didn't want to, she made me. Without her I wouldn't even be here at the caves today! So, yes, Charlie, I'm staying at the beach."

Charlie noticed that this couldn't be heading in a good direction, "Okay, okay, that's okay. Hey, we'll still see each other."

Claire nodded, "Yeah, you're right, well, I better go Charlie. See you around."

"Bye.." he hesitated, he really wanted to see her again, soon, "we should go golfing sometime."

Claire laughed, "I don't golf, not my thing. But don't worry Charlie, I'll come back soon."

And with that she turned around and took the paths back to the beach. Trying to convince herself not to move back the caves to be around Charlie, or make a fool out of herself by trying to golf.

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	11. Chapter 11

Shanananana!

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Claire smiled, Shannon was sleeping inside her tent. She leaned down and nudged her in the side, "Shannon, Shannon!"

"Sea monkey stole my money…" Shannon muttered in her sleep.

"Shannon, how much money did he steal?"

"Sea monkey.. stop.." Shannon slowly opened her eyes, saw Claire, and squeezed them tightly shut. Crap! She had forgotten to get Aaron back from Sawyer. Shannon opened her eyes and in the cheereist voice she could manage, "Hey, Claire, how was…"

Claire's eyes got big and she forgot all about Aaron, "It was.. well, I might move back to the caves…"

Shannon sputtered on her water, "Claire, you can't I mean, Aaron likes it here better!"

Claire, did a double take, did Shannon care? No… "Well, Aaron and I could come back here and, but I might not move back to the caves-"

"Well, well, well, looks like the mother wolf is back at her den" they both looked up to see Sawyer standing at the opening of Shannon's tent holding Aaron, "here is the little one, no need to pay, Sticks already did."

Claire took the wriggling bundle out of Sawyers arms and gave him her thanks and threw a look at Shannon. Shannon shrugged her shoulders, "What? He was staring at me!"

Claire just shook her head, "We're gonna go.."

"Okay, lettme know if you decide.. about the caves.."

Claire nodded and made her way across the beach, something about the last part of the conversation was forced… Claire had a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach.

Shannon layed back down and flipped on to her stomach. She thought that Claire and Charlie would get in another argument and then Claire would just shut up about him! But no, everything had to go _right_. It's not that Shannon didn't like Claire she did. Claire was the only one who could look Shannon in the eye and talk to her. Claire seemed as if she understood. Shannon sent Claire off to talk to Charlie so she would get off the subject of him. So Claire could move on. And it looked like she was, but with Charlie.

Although, Shannon could move to the caves with Claire, stay friends, but Sayid had moved to the caves. She had gotten over Sayid, she just didn't like seeing him, with that kicked puppy look on her face. Not enjoyable.

Shannon stood up and stretched her legs. She needed some fresh air. She made her way out of her 'make-shift' shelter and sat down on the sand, the ocean lapping at her toes to be left alone with herself.

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